


Deo Gratias

by jamtoday



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:01:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25689265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamtoday/pseuds/jamtoday
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova
Kudos: 26





	Deo Gratias

The air is hot and dry and smells like an abbatoir. Nicolo tastes iron. The man he faces holds a bloody sword, recently extracted from his abdomen. He drops to his knees. The other man stands and watches. This is the ninth time he has died at his hand. Surely this is a miracle, Nicolo thinks, and he is frightened by the weight of it.

***

'Ana barak Allah, Yusuf murmurs to himself often: as they make camp, before a meal, at the sunset after prayers. I am blessed by God. But Nicolo doubts. To be thus cut off from Heaven, to never sit at the right hand of God, to never feel Mary's motherly embrace, is this a blessing?

***

They pray together, first by accident and then by intent. Fajr, Duhur, Asr, Maghrib, Isha'a. Prime, Sext, Nones, Vespers, Compline. They have grown accustomed to each other's habits, having traveled together for many months. The murmur of Yusuf's soft voice in sunset prayer has lately caused a surging in Nicolo's breast and it troubles him.

***

Tonight is clear and warm and Nicolo watches the stars rising. There is Great Bear and the Little Bear, and finally he sees Orion stepping over the horizon. His eyes drift down to Yusuf opposite the embers of their fire; Yusuf is also looking up at the sky. Nicolo wonders if he finds comfort in the same familiar figures, and what their names are in his language. He would ask, but he is suddenly afraid that Yusuf will think him foolish.

***

They share a hayloft in a stone barn outside a hamlet lately besieged by bandits. An attempt by a local would-be warlord to increase his holdings means employment for men with swords. Nicolo lies awake beside his companion, feeling the warmth from Yusuf's body. He wonders if this feeling in his stomach dishonors God.

***

Yusuf is fierce in battle, but tender with the downtrodden. He teases Nicolo, and his laughter is infectious. His form is lean and tall and he moves with an easy elegance and makes Nicolo remember Jonathan and David and their covenant in the woods. He thinks on all they have seen, all the brutality and horror and weighs it against the lightness in his heart when Yusuf's eyes fall upon him. He prays to the Blessed Virgin and asks 'Can this sin truly be so great?'

***

There is a night when Nicolo no longer doubts his blessing. On this night he learns that Yusuf's mouth tastes of liquorice root, and that touching him just so will cause him to sigh and make his arms grip tighter. When he rises the next morning to pray, lingering past dawn to enjoy the weight of Yusuf's arm around his ribs, he feels a fullness in his spirit and an uncommon reverence. Deo gratias.


End file.
